Branding Hits the Mark
To effectively brand your firm, you need to carefully craft
your message, develop an identity and be patient.
By Philip D. Zaleon
So, what is branding anyway?
It’s knowing whether you should visit the BMW showroom or should
stick with Isuzu
It’s your teenage daughter insisting that the shirt from
Wal-Mart will never be as cool as the identical shirt from
Abercrombie & Fitch….
It’s knowing if you should recommend a Sub-Zero or Samsung
refrigerator to your client.
Once upon a time, branding was the act of burning your logo into
the hide of a cow with a hot iron leaving your mark for the world
to see. Today, branding is the act of burning your logo into the
mind of the consumer with hot marketing leaving your mark for the
world to see.
Why should a kitchen and bath dealer be concerned about
branding?
Almost everything today is branded manufactured goods, services,
entertainment, even individual personas. Brands have become an
organizing force of modern business. More and more, the world has
organized itself around brands, brand image and brand equity.
Your brand is how your intended audience perceives you. Looking
back at the examples that started this article, each corporate name
BMW, Isuzu, Wal-Mart, Abercrombie & Fitch, Sub-Zero and Samsung
automatically put an image in your mind’s eye. It’s not by
accident; it’s by design through the branding process.
And, you should be concerned for two reasons;
1. Your competition is branding itself (especially the
chains).
2. Branding directly and measurably benefits your business.
Benefits
The measurable benefits you will see from branding include:
- Differentiation The branding process forces you to take a long,
critical look at the business side of your showroom, your
clientele, your niche in the marketplace, your strengths, your
weaknesses and your aspirations. You will do the same of your
competition. As a result, you will find your point(s) of
differentiation and accentuate them throughout your marketing, thus
setting yourself apart and creating unique value and brand
personality.
- Direction The points of differentiation that you emphasize will
provide a path for you to follow in your marketing and advertising
campaign.
- Value Regardless of your points of differentiation or the
direction you take, your value as a designer, showroom, studio or
business will emerge. Your marketing and advertising efforts will
establish and exploit your value and credibility to prospective
clients.
As Laura Jensen, CKD, CBD, owner of The Kitchen Guide in
Barrington, IL notes, “The closer that the branding can capture the
essence of the business, the better it will be.”
- Customer Loyalty Establishing, sustaining and living up to your
brand will instill customer loyalty.
Mark Palmer, president of Atlantic Coast Kitchen & Bath in
Savannah, GA highlights the point by saying, “We make sure that we
take care of our clients and that they are satisfied with the
completed project. This has created a trust in the company that
supersedes the brands that we carry.”
After all, the customer is the most important part of any
business, and efficient customer loyalty will enhance your brand
image, making you reliable and trustworthy.Amir Ilin, owner of Küche+Cucina in Paramus, NJ agrees: “At
times, customers insist that we brand our name into their drawers
or that we put construction signs with our name outside their
house. Builders pay more and buy our kitchens just to have our name
when marketing their houses.”
- Staff Retention A well crafted and executed branding campaign
will transform your showroom into a more focused business. You will
take on the reputation you espouse in your branding effort.
Ilin maintains that some of his employees “came to work here
because they knew about us through the years in the industry.” This
is just one more benefit of branding your business.
- Efficient Marketing Once you have established your
differentiation and direction, the marketing guessing game is over.
You can plan for the year, comfortable in the knowledge that your
efforts are well thought out and leading you toward the goal(s) you
have set for yourself and your business.
- Efficient Advertising As with efficient marketing, branding
will ensure that you end up much less likely to say yes to the
salesperson who happens by the showroom right after you deposited a
client’s retainer. You may even be able to downsize your Yellow
Pages presence.
- Increased Profit An effective branding program can increase
your profit margins. Bill Camp, CKD, of Triangle Design Kitchens in
Raleigh, NC has been branding his showroom for almost five years.
“The investment [in marketing and advertising] brings more to my
bottom line, plus my gross profits have grown. It’s almost like you
don’t pay for it because you make up the additional expense with
greater profits.”
Branding is a process one that takes time, energy, effort, money
and patience. But, with measurable benefits, it’s worth it all.
According to Kevin Telaak of Artisan Kitchen & Bath in Buffalo,
NY, “It’s a matter of getting on the radar screen of potential
clients in a desired demographic category.”
You may be saying to yourself, “In theory branding sounds like
the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel, but in
practical terms, how do we do it?”
The process can be broken down into four primary areas.
1. Crafting a message differentiation and direction.
2. Developing an identity logo and a look.
3. Dissemination consistency in all economic conditions.
4. Patience this is not a going out of business sale people will
not flock to your showroom.
Craft a message
This is not as simple as
making up a slogan, although that can be part of it. Your message
should reflect your ambitions and dreams as they relate to doing
business in your market. Let this be a personal as well as
professional mission. The analysis exercise should include the
following:
- A definition of the greater market.
- A definition of your target market.
- An evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses.
- An evaluation of your competition’s strengths and
weaknesses.
- Goals for your showroom/business.
Once you have completed the analysis, you will see a picture of
your future emerging. You will see your customers, know their
buying habits, understand their desires and recognize how you and
your competition fit into the equation.
Now, couple that picture with your own goals and you can begin
to position yourself as
the only alternative for your customer base.
Jensen achieves this by first putting together a mission/ vision
statement. It was a two month project that, as she puts it, “forced
me to think about it, which I’d never done in an organized fashion
previously.” In the case of her business, she was able to take her
vision statement and include it in a public relations program that
was disseminated to her local media. The epilogue to the story it
was picked up by a local newspaper and, according to Jensen, “the
one article was directly responsible for 35 projects.”
Develop an Identity
Your identity is your
image to the world. It will consist primarily of your logo and
“look.” The “look” is best defined as the way people see you; the
colors you use, the feel of your ads, the type of music you use in
your television and radio commercials, the way your logo is
represented and the impression made by your Web site and other
marketing collaterals. They should all be consistent throughout
your marketing efforts, regardless of medium. The world to which
you are speaking will begin to recognize each element as yours, and
respond in kind.
Küche+Cucina developed its high-end identity through a look
established in its print campaign. Ilin says, “some people think
that we are very expensive because the ads are done very well, but
on the other hand, we do get some of the most expensive projects in
the area from these ads.”
He adds that he believes the most important thing about
developing a brand is the name itself. “I chose Küche+Cucina
[which means kitchen + kitchen in German and Italian] because it is
different, unique and memorable. Most companies in the industry are
called Kitchens by X, or Kitchens Unique or other very generic
names like these. Customers do not remember these names and, after
shopping for a kitchen in a few places, can’t tell who is who. They
all remember the name Küche+Cucina.”
Telaak says, “We knew that we needed a look and a name that
spoke of ‘Luxury’ even before the customer researched our company
further. Our look needed to be consistent throughout everything we
produced. When customers are introduced to ‘Artisan Kitchens and
Baths,’ they remember the look.”
The look at Atlantic Coast Kitchen & Bath was established
early on in conjunction with naming the company. Palmer says, “We
hired a professional design company to come up with our logo and
look. We have kept that same logo and look for the last eight years
and have it on all of our trucks, ads and any special advertising.
Right now we are developing a new positioning statement.”
Be Consistent
Assuming you have crafted your message and developed your identity,
it’s time to let the world (or at least your market) in on your
secret. In simple terms, it’s time to market yourself. This can be
traditional advertising on radio, television and in the print
media, or you can disseminate less traditionally and focus your
efforts on the Internet, direct mail, home shows, parades of homes,
sponsorships, in-showroom events and other creative ways.
Typically, however, a combination of efforts will get your name and
brand “out there.”
One of the major stumbling blocks to effectively disseminating
your message is an unrealistic (or non-existent) marketing budget.
Traditionally, this industry recommends spending 1.5 3% of your
annual sales volume in advertising. Although this figure is a
start, in order to be sure you’re not short-changing your efforts,
you may want to consider 5% as a minimum for a total marketing
budget and that’s if you’re established with an established brand
in your market.
The Web site www.KitchenMarketing.com provides more detailed
information to help you determine how best to set your budget.
Atlantic Coast Kitchen & Bath splits its budget, allocating
1% to “marketing,” which includes printed literature, home show
expenses and catalogs, and 3% to “advertising,” which includes
newspaper, Yellow Pages and magazines. Mark Ergmann, of Coastal
Kitchen and Bath Design in York, ME takes a different approach,
choosing to make his marketing and advertising budget a fixed cost.
“I treat my marketing and advertising like I do the rent or my
electric bill. I cannot afford to put it on a sliding percentage
scale. If I don’t market, clients won’t come. So, I have got to be
consistent regardless of the prevailing economy.””
Ilin spends about 6% annually, with most of the expenditures going
to two-page spreads or at least full page ads in magazines. Ilin
says, “Our advertising has made us a household brand name in our
marketing area.”
Camp, too, budgets aggressively. “I consistently spend between
7% and 8% of my estimated gross sales for the year on my marketing
and advertising. Triangle Design Kitchens has established its brand
everywhere our potential clients are.”
Have Patience
Patience is probably the
most important element of branding your showroom. “Branding is not
for the faint of heart,” claims Palmer. “Thinking back, I would say
it was a two- to three-year period before steady results started
coming in from our consistent advertising. Now, after eight years,
we really see an influx of business from the years of
advertising.”
While branding doesn’t generally produce instant results, a
long-term approach can lead to very positive results in the long
run. For instance, Palmer notes that just putting his name on his
trucks has led to a huge increase in awareness, even though he may
not have people storming into his showroom. He says, “You need to
have the outlook that ‘you may not buy a kitchen from me today, but
when you do need one years from now, you’re going to know that we
are here.'”
Likewise, it’s important to remember that everything worthwhile
takes an investment of money, time and patience. And, you will
never reach your goals if you don’t start sometime.
Lowe’s and The Home Depot have opened the door. They are
spending millions nationally to increase awareness for our
industry. Your job is to get a slice of the pie. Branding will
direct you to the type of pie. Marketing that brand effectively
will get you a bigger slice of that pie.
Philip D. Zaleon is founder and president of Chapel Hill-based Z
promotion & design, a full service integrated marketing and
creative agency focusing on the kitchen and bath industry.
Prior to founding Z promotion & design in 1996, Zaleon held
the position of v.p./research & development for a new
technology-based communications firm. In addition, he spent over 12
years in the television industry as a graphic designer, a producer,
director, animator and marketing director at top 30 (TV) market
affiliates, as well as CNN.
Zaleon can be reached at Z promotion & design, P.O. Box
17291, Chapel Hill, NC 27516; Phone: 919-932-4600; Fax:
919-932-4447; E-mail: [email protected]; Web site:
www.kitchenmarketing.com.